Bearing fruit in old age

Amongst the Israelites, old age was held in high regard and respect for the elderly was obligatory. Proverbs 16.31 tells us that, ‘grey hair is the crown of glory.’ As a follicularly challenged minister in his 30s it is easy to subtly downplay the truth of such verses. Unquestionably, modern Western society does not honour old age to the extent to which it once did.

Perhaps it is unsurprising, then, that 1.2 million elderly people in England would describe themselves as chronically lonely, with almost half of those going without seeing anyone for five days out of every week (Age UK). The astounding nature of such statistics is only furthered when one considers that by 2035 almost half of the adult population will be over 65 (Office for National Statistics). While many churches are unquestionably working hard amongst an aging population, Christian resources aimed at the elderly are comparatively sparse.

New initiative

Consequently, on 10 October, I was delighted to have been invited to the launch of ‘Faith in Later Life’ at the House of Lords. This joint initiative of Pilgrim’s Friends Society, The Salvation Army, London City Mission, Mission Care, and Keychange Charity seeks to both redress the balance in Christian resources for the elderly and proffer a biblical view of old age.